


You Could Call It Tax Evasion

by rebel_raven



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alfredo and Jeremy are trying, Alfredo is kinda a spy still, Alfredo needs a nap, All happy ending, Assassination attempts, BAMF Alfredo, BAMF Gavin, BAMF Jeremy, Blood, Descriptions of bleeding injuries, F/M, Fake AH Crew Setting, Fiona is a financial advisor, Fluff, Gavin is oblivious, Gavin is tired of bullshit, Gavin just wants to cuddle his cat and do his photography, Guns, Healthy Communication, Healthy Relationships, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Jeremy and Alfredo were spies, Jeremy and Gavin were roommates, Kisses, Knives, Leg Injury, M/M, Matt and Michael are done with these idiots, Mentioned past neglect, Mentions of the rest of the crew - Freeform, Mild Angst with a happy ending, Rosie is a good cat, Violence, for a little bit - Freeform, gta v - Freeform, himbos, mentions of minor character death, mild panic attacks, so much cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25584508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebel_raven/pseuds/rebel_raven
Summary: Gavin didn't want anything to do with his estranged parents inheritance. But as one of the two only surviving next of kin, with only a distant second cousin as kin should something happen to him, and clauses that keep him from donating it, he has no choice. Moving into a new, untouched house with his roommate, and crush, Jeremy, kicks off a series of events that include but are not limited too: assassination attempts, meeting old crushes, nearly dying, and further lack of understanding about the mysterious death about his parents; not necessarily in that order.
Relationships: Jeremy Dooley/Gavin Free/Alfredo Diaz, Lindsay Tuggey Jones/Michael Jones
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	You Could Call It Tax Evasion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JustAddSalt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAddSalt/gifts).



> I wrote this for Orion of the RT Writing Community! Your prompts were all amazing and I fell in love with this one. Thank you for the amazing prompt and I hope you enjoy the shennanigans! The prompt was:  
> Bodyguard/Spy AU | Any pairing | Person A is a huge pop star/famous actor or whatever, but they're like the child of a politician or somehow caught in a weird web that makes them the target of an assassin. Person B is a spy who poses as their bodyguard, but Person A is reckless. Lots of rich famous person antics and "i'm too old for this" vibes from the spy are preferred, but again go wild!  
> I went wild, but I hope you still like it!  
> Also a massive thank you to Tallowwood for allowing me to use this title and if you haven’t read their works, you really should check them out

Gavin wasn’t entirely certain how it came to the point he was at in the moment, staring at a house that he wasn’t entirely certain he ever knew existed, hands flexing on the steering wheel of his car. It wasn’t raining, shockingly, but it was gloomy and he was almost reminded of England and was viciously glad that his parents hadn’t thought to drag him all the way there to deal with the fallout of everything.    
  
“Gav? Earth to Gavin Free, come in, Gavin Free,” his friend’s voice jolted him out of his reverie and he startled, staring at the man sitting beside him.    
  
Jeremy gave him a weak smile and shifted in his seat, the groceries they’d picked up before driving to the estate no doubt crushing his legs. The trunk and backseat were full of his and Jeremy’s things, boxes and duffel bags and Gavin hadn’t thought he’d kept a lot but the sheer quantity of everything said otherwise.    
  
“Yeah, sorry,” he said, shaking himself from his stupor and continued the drive up to the old Victorian style house. “Just, thinking again,”    
  
“It’s only been two months,” Jeremy said with a slow nod.    
  
Gavin snorted and shook his head. “Yeah. Two months. It’s horrible, but since I left home? Maybe even before then, they just weren’t there for me. Soon as I could make my own decisions beyond what toy I wanted to play with or what I wanted to eat, they stopped being parents and started being… I don’t know, strangers? Fuck, Jeremy, it’s awful, but just, they weren’t there. My grandparents were more parents to me! They raised me from when I was fucking eight until I went to college! And this whole thing? It feels like they aren’t even gone. If I hadn’t been sent that thick fucking envelope, I wouldn’t have even noticed!”    
  
Jeremy nodded, making the appropriate noises; this had been a subject that Gavin would rant on in varying stages when the topic was brought up. It wasn’t nearly as often after the closed casket funeral, where too many people Gavin only knew because of tv or the internet circulating information about them showed up. They gave the needed condolences, moving through the whole affair like a show or a runway; come and greet, spout a few words, turn on the toes and walk away, making room for the next. Gavin let out a long breath and shook himself, refusing to close his eyes and stop the car for a moment.    
  
“They really could’ve gone for a less elaborate home though,” Jeremy muttered, staring up at it. It was a sprawling lawn and high fences, with a thin forest nearby, Mount Chiliad in the background. The gardens were extensive, filled with flowers that Gavin was certain he only knew because of Animal Crossing, and he itched to replace them with proper vegetable gardens. The house itself was large, three stories with a wrap around porch, mostly made of rough hewn granite and the rest made of wood. The weather vane glimmered copper in the dull lighting that broke through the cloud cover. “I mean. It’s modern inside, but why keep the exterior so gothic and Victorian? And yes, before you start, I know those are two different periods. Shut up and let me have it.”    
  
Gavin smiled a little, chuckling at his roommates' antics. He was so incredibly grateful for the other man’s sense of humor through everything he’d been dealing with. From the actual news to the will reading after the funeral, which had bequeathed him the estate, and then moving across the damn state itself to Los Santos, he was fairly done. The last two months of moving into the too big house, tucked away somewhere people didn’t didn’t regularly travel made his head spin and he was so happy to have Jeremy with him. It certainly made it easier to deal with the house and the upkeep. His parents had paid a maid service and a lawn care service and Gavin just felt too odd accepting it without increasing their pay. There hadn’t been any staff in the home, but he had distant memories from his childhood of a large house in England and too many people coming and going at all times and someone was always trying to keep an eye on him. 

When they left England and came to the States, they lived in a too big house with too many people, but only on occasion and by that point, Gavin was old enough to slip out of the party to his room and play games, or play outside, not a care in the world or in his soft, lonely heart. He’d been passed off quickly to his grandparents and raised by them, and he was happier for it. Most of Gavin’s memories were of his grandparents and spending his days sprawling in the grass with his grandmother or learning to draw from his grandfather, when he wasn’t doing school work or playing with the few friends he’d kept close to. Jeremy he’d met in college and the only time he lost contact was when Jeremy went into the military for a handful of years before he showed up one day with a backpack, dusty and still in uniform, giving Gavin a tired smile. Four years of living together had braced Jeremy for all the very weird bullshit that occasionally happened around Gavin, both of them writing it off as “weird,” and then never brought it up again. His sudden appearance was chalked up to such a thing and Gavin had simply taken it in stride. 

“Not only that, but I can’t even fathom what I would do with it all! If they’d said move in or else everything you’re supposed to inherit is sent to a charity, I would’ve said great, good riddance!”    
  
“That’s not very snobbish of you,” Jeremy said with a grin. “Aren’t you supposed to be excited about receiving all this money, proper emotional response to having received it the way you did not withstanding?”    
  
Gavin sighed and stared up at the house. “I mean, maybe? Certainly be nice to have money to afford new equipment. And pay off that shitty apartment.”    
  
“Remind me again why it took two months to finalize moving?” Jeremy groused. “We’d paid it off shortly after the will reading and started to move everything over.”    
  
Gavin stayed quiet, chewing his lip. “I don’t know,” he mumbled, staring at the separate garage. “I don’t like having to uproot my life for them. I don’t like having to get rid of the life I had.”    
  
“To be fair, it hasn’t changed much,” Jeremy pointed out, neatly avoiding the real issue. “But I get it. It’s a lot. Though, honestly, having a place that isn’t full of cockroaches will be really nice.”    
  
“Yeah, well,” Gavin sighed and reached up, hitting the garage door opener and pulling in as the door smoothly opened. “Maybe I liked the cockroaches.”    
  
“Gav, you screamed so loud when you saw the first one I thought you’d been attacked by something,” Jeremy said blandly. 

Gavin opened his mouth to retort and sighed, then nodded. “Yeah, okay. That’s fair. It’s just, their little legs! There’s so many of them!” he shuddered. “No thanks. I’m good.”    
  
Jeremy laughed and shook his head. “Yeah, you’re just happy that I was there to get rid of the big bad bug. Now, come on, let’s get this stuff inside.”    
  
Gavin heaved a put upon sigh but turned off the car after he’d pulled into his spot and helped Jeremy unpack the car and then cart everything inside. The house itself felt sterile; there had been next to nothing inside, which was just fine with the both of them. They’d had the furniture they wanted to save brought and moved into the house and then ordered all new appliances and furniture, barely making a scratch in Gavin’s new fortune. They’d converted the living room into their entertainment area; with a massive couch, new rug, and huge tv, and the consoles they’d had and then added. Games were stacked up in front of the shelving unit that also held the TV and there were DVDs on the other side, despite the fact that they also had Netflix. There was a climbing area for Rosie that went up from the floor and along the wall, an advertised cat playground that had posts and platforms with holes in them and soft landing spaces beneath them as well as more platforms for Rosie to use.    
  
The kitchen was too big and an odd mix of modern appliances with cottage-esq counters and cabinets, and hardwood flooring that flowed throughout the whole house. The dining room was in the process of being renovated into an office for Gavin, the smaller den being converted into an office for Jeremy, and the indoor greenhouse was slowly filling with plants for Jeremy to tend to. There was only the main stairs, thankfully, but it lead up to the second landing, where there was a library, shelves empty and dusty, two full bathrooms, a guest room, a master suite and a another two bedrooms, one of which had its own bathroom attached to it. There was the attic that made up the top floor, and it was dusty but well maintained, with high, old sturdy beams and spots that could have held boxes at some point. 

Gavin left the master suite alone, not wanting to deal with the implications of it, and instead took the bedroom with the attached bathroom, and Jeremy took the one a little down the hall. They’d decorated their rooms, getting new beds, pillows, and mattresses, blankets and sheets. Jeremy had tossed them all in the washer that day while Gavin started to sort out his office space, getting rid of plastic wrapped around his new desk and sorting out his computer and editing software. It was long, tedious work, but it ate up the day. Gavin was certain he only ate because Jeremy poked his head in with a sandwich and a glass of water, leaving them on his desk for him. The room still felt too large, but it at least hadn’t been a massive dining room, or even a large one. The shelves Gavin had had installed to fill with books and art and his things helped eat up a lot of the space, as did the chairs that he’d ordered to give clients a place to sit and look like an actual professional.    
  
Gavin jolted when his phone went off and let out a long breath. A text.    
  
“God, I’m jumping from a text tone,” he grunted, rubbing his face with a sigh. “I need some sleep. I’ve been working too long at this shit.”    
  
He unlocked his phone as he left his office, yawning. It was a text from Jeremy.    
  
**J:** **_Hey, gone out to get some chinese to celebrate. You want anything other than your regular?_ **

**Me:** **_I mean, anything you wanna grab is good. How long was I in that bloody office?_ **

**J:** **_Pretty much all day, man. I’m gonna swing by Matt’s on the way back home, see if he wants to spend the night over at our place and help us fill it in a little more and bring our Rosie back._ **

**Me:** **_God you sound like an idiot when you say that shit._ **

**J:** **_Like you don’t asshole._ **

Gavin chuckled and smiled, shaking his head and locking his phone. He stretched and sighed, rolling his shoulders with a groan and letting himself relax. Gavin reached up to his shoulder, rubbing at the tense muscle with a sigh and rolled his neck.    
  
“God damn, think I lifted so much that I pulled something.” he muttered to the air. “I need to lift more, good god.”    
  
He flexed his arm and frowned, poking at it. “You used to be big and strong. The fuck happened?”    
  
Gavin wasn’t the kind of person to be very vain about his appearance, more so just wanting to look presentable and sometimes nice. If he looked good for his clients, or the occasional magazine contract, when he went to meet them, he was fine -- he was behind the camera, there was no need to focus on looking good. Being a videographer and photographer wasn’t the most glamorous job, and since a large amount of the time, he was taking photos of models or nature, he was fine to just look presentable. Gavin groaned and scrubbed his hands over his face, sighing.    
  
“God. I’m thinking about work. I need to not think about work. You took two weeks off for a reason, Free,”    
  
He wrapped his arms around himself and wandered through the house aimlessly, feeling like a ghost. Like at any time someone would turn around the corner and scream at seeing him appear suddenly, or like he’d phase through the floor and vanish into the ground, through the finished basement and into the dirt. He wanted to keep moving, but Gavin stopped in the kitchen and sat at the island, running his fingers of the whorls in the wood. It was worn down, either from actual time or for the aesthetic, he wasn’t entirely certain and he wasn’t entirely sure he cared. 

The house had been a shell of a place just hours ago, sitting empty and pleasing to look at, with the garden tended to and the grounds kept neat for the sake of making it look lived in. The cleaning service only came by once a week, keeping dust and mildew from growing, but the house had smelled almost stale when they’d arrived. He looked forward to falling face first into his bed, sheets and comforter smelling familiar and warm, and curling up with Rosie, and finally getting some sleep. Gavin was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the sound of near silent footsteps until he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle.    
  
“Jeremy, you’re back early,” he started, turning around in his chair and freezing.    
  
There was a stranger standing in his doorway, leveling a gun at him. She was beautiful, a redhead, tight clothes and sensible boots.    
  
“Nothing personal,” she was saying, and Gavin clued into the fact that she was speaking, not that he could hear the rest.   
  
His heart was beating too loud in his ears to understand her. Her voice rushed over him, something almost familiar about it, but he couldn’t understand it. Gavin threw himself to the side as she fired, feeling as though time had slowed down and started to crawl on his hands and knees to try and put some distance. The woman laughed and came into the room.    
  
“You won’t get very far, crawling on the ground,” he was pretty sure she said.    
  
Gavin flung a cabinet open and grabbed the first thing he felt -- a pan. He felt his heart sink before he pushed himself to his feet in a shockingly coordinated move, and before he had time to be shocked about that, he was staring the woman and her gun in the face with only a frying pan to protect himself.    
  
“Take this, you ass-!!” he screeched, swinging the pan a short but adrenaline fueled distance towards her head and felt a small kernel of satisfaction as he heard her grunt.    
  
He immediately yanked it away and while she was disoriented, pulled a leg up and kicked out, hitting something soft and fleshy. Gavin felt a rush of wanting to stand and fight, fleeing, and not wanting to move away at all, lest he get completely fucked over. He backpedalled, not wanting to take his eyes off of her, feeling his heart race so much that he was a little surprised that it didn’t burst or launch itself from his chest. The next thing that happened was another shock and happened too fast for him to track -- Gavin heard the front door open just as he fell flat on his ass and the sound of running. Jeremy was suddenly  _ there,  _ the would be assassin too disoriented from the frying pan to do much else but stumble and fall as five foot four, one hundred something pounds of Boston based muscle slammed into her. Gavin stared for a moment as Jeremy and the woman wrestled, shocked. Jeremy disarmed her and cracked his elbow against her head, making her go limp.    
  
“God fucking damnit,” Gavin grumbled, lowering the pan, looking at her properly. He recognized her.    
  
Jeremy looked up and then back down at the woman before he got up and held his hands out towards Gavin.    
  
“Okay, Gav, I need you to take a deep breath and listen to me, okay? We’re going to go to your office and sit and call the cops. Matt’s coming up now with Rosie. Do you want to spend the night here or at his apartment?”    
  
“....Here.” Gavin sighed, rubbing his hand down his face. “Here. I don’t want to move again and put you all in trouble. We should tie her up to a chair and keep her somewhere without weapons unless you want to crack her in the head again.”   
  
Jeremy gave him a long look and then took a deep breath and pointed at him. “You are going to explain why you’re so calm about this after we deal with this.”    
  
Gavin just nodded and wandered out of the kitchen, calling, “Does Matt have the Chinese food?”    
  
Jeremy just made a noise that Gavin ignored, spotting the chinese food left in the hallway and picked it up.    
  
“Nevermind, I found it,” he called, making his way to his office.    
  
He put the bags and the frying pan on his table and pulled out his order and then Jeremy’s, putting the chopsticks on top of his before sitting in his chair. Gavin cracked the plastic lid off and just tucked into his meal, running his hand through his hair and sitting heavily.    
  
“God damn it,” he grumbled, rubbing his face again.    
  
Gavin sighed heavily and started to pick at his chicken lo mein. He could hear Jeremy talking to someone, pacing. There were flashing lights in no time but shockingly, no cops came in to talk to him. He just sat there and ate his dinner, his thoughts not racing nearly as much as they usually did after such things, though Gavin chalked that up to too much experience. Finally, as he was finishing off his meal, Jeremy came in, rubbing his face and looking haggard.    
  
“Explain, Free,” 

“From where?”    
  
Jeremy gave him a flat look as he ripped open his chopsticks and cracked open his own, now lukewarm, orange broccoli chicken.    
  
“For one, why aren’t you in shock? For another, why are you okay with all this?” 

Gavin sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling so he didn’t have to look Jeremy in the eyes as he explained everything.    
  
“You know how my life is just, weird?” when Jeremy made a confirming noise, Gavin continued, “Well, that’s cause people have tried to kill me in the past. The youngest I can remember was twelve, living with my grandparents. Someone had poisoned my milk, we don’t know who, but someone did. I thought I was lactose intolerant, but my grandparents knew what was up and after that, started to feed me all kinds of shit to strengthen me against poison. Someone tried again a few years later and I didn’t have to go to a hospital after, so that was nice,” he shrugged. “I’ve had, all total, forty-three attempts on my life.”    
  
“Jesus, Gav,”    
  
“Yeah. Probably would’ve been more if I had stayed with my parents. I like to think that they gave me to my grandparents to keep me safe, but,” he grinned, finally facing Jeremy. “You get used to it after a while. It’s scary in the moment, cause I’m never certain if it’ll, you know,  _ stick  _ that time. But it’s not something to be actively worried about. I usually am able to run away or improvise a weapon. I have knives stored all over the house. There’s three in here so far, I need to get some more.”    
  
He said it absently, like it were a reminder to pick up milk and sugar from the store. Jeremy stared at him, shocked and more than a little concerned.    
  
“So, what, you think that this shit’s just gonna stop?! Because, news flash, Gav,  _ you’re rich _ . Like, really fucking rich. Maybe not Jungle Prime rich, but you know! Really, really rich!”    
  
“I know,” Gavin mumbled, burying his face in his hands. “I know and I bloody hate it! But you and I both heard and read that damn will! I can’t put the money into charities and wipe my hands of it! They’re so damn greedy, even in death,” 

Jeremy chewed on his lip. “I...Maybe have a few friends that I can talk to. People that’ve done body guard duty. They’d live in the house, keep an eye on the place and you when I’m not here.”    
  
“Jeremy, I’m not about to ask some complete stranger to uproot their lives and live with us full time-!” Gavin protested. 

“Well what are you planning to do, Gav?” Jeremy demanded, voice snapping as he said, “I can’t watch you get hurt or worse-!”    
  
Gavin felt his heart lurch and all the wind left his sails. “I know,” he mumbled, looking away. “I know. Call your friends, see what they can do.” 

“Thank you, Gavin,” Jeremy sighed, running a hand over his head. “I know, I’m the worlds most annoying best friend, but just, Jesus. You scared me shitless.”    
  
“How’d you even know that I was in trouble?” Gavin asked, turning back to face Jeremy.    
  
Jeremy let out an explosive sigh and scrubbed his face. “The front door was open and you weren’t answering your phone, and then I heard talking. I was so worried she’d hurt you.”    
  
Gavin titled his head a little to the side and gave Jeremy a curious look. “What was she saying?” 

“Usual villain monologue,” Jeremy said, waving his hand. “About how much she was going to enjoy it and all that bullshit. Really doesn’t bear repeating. You may be used to this shit, Gav, but I really don’t want to think about how used you are to it,”    
  
Gavin sighed and nodded. Silence fell for a minute or two, then he asked,    
  
“Didn’t you say Matt was coming up with Rosie?”    
  
“Yeah, he should be here soon. The cops might’ve blocked the road though, so he’ll call if he needs us.” he fell quiet again, then, “Are you sure you’re okay?”    
  
“I mean,” Gavin made a noise that wasn’t quite a laugh, too bitter and tired to be passed off as one. “This has happened now forty-four times. You get used to it, J.”    
  
“Yeah, but are you  _ okay _ , Gavin,”    
  
He paused, looking down at his chopsticks. “...I think I’d like it if you slept with me in my bed with Rosie and Matt were here in the guest room. Call your friend in the morning though, not tonight. I don’t want to think tonight.”    
  
“Okay, buddy,” Jeremy said with a quiet smile. “We can do that.” 

Gavin nodded and gave his chopsticks another twirl, watching the sauce fly off of them and splatter on his new desk. He didn’t bother to wipe it up immediately, instead thinking through everything. He’d seen that red head before, knew her, from somewhere. He knew she wasn’t Lindsay on the fact that Lindsay had acted as his bodyguard for a number of years, as had Meg. She’d sounded almost Canadian, which narrowed down the number of people he knew that it could be, but also opened up a hundred thousand more options as to what it could be. He groaned and flopped back dramatically in his chair, staring up the ceiling.    
  
“Hey, guys?” Matt’s voice echoed from the hall and Gavin stood up to go greet him.    
  
“In here Matt!” he left to go meet the other man in the hall. “We’re in the office,”    
  
Matt was standing in the hall, holding on tight to his backpack and a very large ginger cat was draped over his shoulders, a plastic bag with various cat foods and her bowls in his other hand.    
  
“Hey dude, why the fuck were there so many cops around your house?”    
  
“Oh, someone tried to kill me,” Gavin said, plucking Rosie up off of Matt’s shoulders, cooing at her as she began to purr. “You know, usual,”    
  
“I’m never going to get used to how blase you are about that shit,” he said with a sigh, shaking his head. “You want me to call Lindsay or look into it myself?”    
  
“If you could look into it yourself, that’d be great.” Gavin said with a tired smile, burying his face in Rosie’s fur. “And Jeremy said he’d take a look at calling some friends. You get dinner?”    
  
“Yeah, ate before Jeremy came, and I fed Rosie too. You have all her cat stuff, right?”    
  
“Set up already,”    
  
Gavin was immensely grateful for Matt Bragg; he understood that Gavin didn’t want to even think about his attempt on his life, even if he were used to it. He wanted to be distracted as he could get from it, keeping himself from having to think on it too hard the day it happened and then dealing with it in the later days. He was shocked that the cops didn’t have a file full of his incidents, or the ones that were reported at least. He had kept careful record of them for his own benefit, with various backups in case anything ever happened to him, all of which Matt knew about and how to access them.    
  
“You talk to Jeremy about the things yet?”    
  
“What things?” he asked, deciding to play coy.    
  
Matt gave him a distinctly unimpressed look and sighed, shaking his head. “You’re an idiot if you think he doesn’t think the same. Don’t wait for something to go drastically wrong for it to come out.”    
  
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” he agreed. 

“Good,” Matt said, clapping him on the shoulder.    
  
Gavin led him to the office and lingered in the doorway as Matt walked in, patting Jeremy on the shoulder before he took the only other free chair. He shifted his weight a little and looked at Rosie, who was happily butting her head against his cheek, her thick fur warm against his cheek and making him smile just a little. He scratched under her chin and gave Jeremy and Matt a weak smile.    
  
“I’m goin up early. Matt, you’re welcome to the guest room for tonight. I’m going to my room,”    
  
“I’ll be up in a little bit, Gav,” Jeremy said, his eyes soft and warm in a way that made Gavin’s insides twist and dance.    
  
He gave a small, private smile in return and looked at Rosie, who looked content to stay in his arms. Gavin shifted her up to his shoulders and waved one last time before he ascended the stairs. He went through the motions of getting ready for bed and fell into bed with a heavy sigh, grumbling into his pillow as Rosie kneaded at his shoulders and back, purring like a motor. Gavin fell asleep before he knew what hit him, waking up a little when his stupidly big, comfortable bed shifted and Jeremy murmured,    
  
“Go back to sleep,”    
  
He did, until about five am when he couldn’t let himself sleep any longer and he sighed, pushing himself up. Gavin blinked, rubbing his eyes to try and clear the sleep from them, feeling a sleepy jolt of adrenaline burn through him at the familiar yet unfamiliar space. Large window with pull down blinds, most of the way pulled down, the large, soft blue curtains drawn most of the way across, hardwood floor that was mostly covered with a carpet, his smaller desk with his packed up camera equipment, walk in closet that still had too many boxes and a suitcase spilling out of it, hsi bookshelf with boxes full of books beside and in front of it. His bed, large and comfortable, tucked into the corner beside his windows. Jeremy was missing, Rosie curled up on the blankets where he had been, purring softer now. Gavin frowned, rubbing his eyes. He carefully got out of bed, his sleep pants trailing on the ground behind his heels, his shirt a few sizes too big and he shivered immediately at the cool air.    
  
Gavin grumbled quietly to himself as he shuffled over to the closet and dug through one of the open boxes until he grabbed something soft and warm. He didn’t look beyond checking which side was the front before he pulled it on. He stood, wavering in the doorway for a moment, unsure of what he should do -- he was too awake to try going back to sleep, though the bed looked incredibly inviting. Instead, he turned and walked out the door, down the hall, pausing at the guest room to see if Matt were still asleep -- he was -- and then headed down the stairs.    
  
“God damn it,” he muttered to himself, making his way towards the kitchen where he could hear people talking softly. 

“What the hell are you doing here-?” Jeremy was hissing. “Seriously, how did you even get inside?!”    
  
“You act like you’re not happy to see me,” a voice that made Gavin pause, his heart skipping. “But I’m here because I’ve heard some pretty disturbing things. I knew him too, though it depends on if he remembers me. Last time I surprised him, he only knew the persona and the mask. And he hit me with a pot.” 

“...I remember it being a frying pan,” Gavin said, stepping into the room, his voice shaking only a little.    
  
His breath caught. There, in the dim lighting of the kitchen stove light, a familiar black haired man was leaning against the counter, his hair shorter and more lines around his eyes, his soft brown eyes more tired, the same red leather jacket. He was wearing boots instead of sneakers, something that Gavin assumed was a new thing, but it was something that suited his whole get up. He was smiling a little this time, and Gavin wasn’t carrying a frying pan. He was just as tired and still in his pajamas, just like last time, and Alfredo was still dressed like he was just coming off from a job. Jeremy in the picture wass new, but from how relaxed he looked, despite his words, Gavin immediately got the sense that they knew each other. 

“Hey, Gav,” Alfredo said with a small wave. “How’s the new high life treating you?”    
  
“Same as ever but with more money,” he said immediately, his lips twitching up in a faint smile. “What’re you doing here? Were you the friend that Lil J was gonna call?”    
  
Alfredo and Jeremy shared a look and Gavin raised an eyebrow.   
  
“We knew each other,” Jeremy admitted slowly. “Remember when I fucked off to the armed forces for three years?” when Gavin gave a slow nod, he continued, “Well, it wasn’t really army training. I was a spy, with Alfredo. We left after a while, ran around as mercs. Alfredo dipped under the radar for a few months,”    
  
“...July through February,” Gavin said slowly. “He was following me around like a bodyguard. I hired him because I found a flyer and said fuck it.”    
  
“Yeah. Then, well, I was just tired of being a merc, didn’t want to be a spy either. So, I stopped and then showed up on your doorstep. I haven’t seen Alfredo in four years,”    
  
“Team Red Dot to the end,” Alfredo said with a grin before he looked at Gavin. “And as much as I wanna say this is a social call, it’s not. You’re in a lot of trouble, Gav. Someone’s put a bounty on your head, stupidly high too, so even half wits are going to try.”    
  
“Well, that explains last night,” he sighed, sitting at the island and putting his face in his hands. “I’m so damn tired of this. Can’t I have a fucking  _ break _ ?!” he dropped his hands and wrapped his arms around himself, bunching the sweater that he now realized was Jeremy’s up in his hands. “I’m so tired,” he whispered. “I’m so goddamn tired,” 

Gavin didn’t look up, though he felt two different pairs of hands rest on his shoulders, tentative and careful. Like they weren’t sure they’d be able to touch, like they didn’t know if they should.    
  
“We’ve got your back, buddy,” Jeremy promised, a smile in his voice.    
  
“I’ve been your bodyguard before,” Alfredo added. “How bad can it be to do it again?”    
  
Gavin gave a weak, cooing laugh and shook his head. “Don’t say that, you’ll jynx us,” 

Alfredo laughed, a bright, shotgun laugh, shattering the illusion of him being some scary badass, making Jeremy giggle, the sound high pitched and familiar. Gavin smiled, his worry and stress melting as he tilted his head back and laughed. Maybe things would actually be alright.   


The day went by faster than Gavin expected, quickly fading into another and then another. Alfredo took the master bedroom as Matt stayed in the guest room, turning it into his temporary office as he hunted for answers, trying to sort out what kind of discernible pattern was going on as Gavin, Jeremy and Alfredo tried to work out how they fit together. Gavin took the two weeks he’d taken off from his work to really get used to being stupidly rich, having to spend three days alone setting up a new bank account outside of Los Santos via video call, and found himself a financial advisor, named Fiona Nova, to help him manage being so stupid rich. Fiona wasn’t based in Los Santos but in Washington state, which put him at a little peace of mind -- he was slightly less likely to be screwed over and or robbed off of Los Santos, and she seemed to know what she was doing which also gave him peace of mind. Fiona admitted that he was her first big name client, but she dealt with people who had tighter budgets and he knew that she wouldn’t fuck him over. She’d also made him laugh three minutes into the conversion and he decided then and there that he wouldn’t have anyone else handle his money.    
  
Alfredo already seemed to be three steps from quitting when Gavin suggested that they all go out for a road trip to go meet her and painstakingly reminded Gavin of the several million dollar bounty on his head and that,    
  
“Going on a roadtrip won’t just  _ magically  _ solve these things, Gav! We may not be known outside of LS, but can you  _ imagine  _ the number of people that would come out of the woodwork!? Video call her like every other normal person, please, for my sanity. You can do something crazy later, but not six days after an attempt on your life. Jesus.”    
  
Jeremy had looked distinctly amused and very worried, though Gavin wasn’t sure which emotion was directed at who. The whole argument, however, got Gavin thinking, and he went and invested in streaming equipment. If he were going to be video calling people, then he may as well build a set up for it, especially since phones were tedious and texting and emails were faster. Alfredo and Jeremy helped him set it up, making the work pass by quickly, Jeremy showing off his brawn by lifting his new very heavy computer table like it were nothing, and Alfredo his brain by helping Gavin sort out the wiring and configuration, having decided to build his own computer. Gavin found himself laughing more often than not, which was a nice change of pace, and Jeremy and Alfredo looked pleased with themselves by the end of the whole ordeal, even if they were all particularly sweaty and had given up on sorting out the wires, instead shoving them to the back and letting Gavin sort himself out. Matt helped a little, mostly by getting everything to work while they took a break, and Gavin appreciated that as well.

The attempts on his life didn’t stop; a contract that had looked promising turned out to be a ruse and Gavin was grateful that Rayn had insisted on coming with him to meet the clients as it had very quickly devolved into a fight and then a car chase. Alfredo lectured him the entire way as Jeremy fired his gun from the back seat, leaning out the window and yelling bitten off instructions to Alfredo, who didn’t pause for a moment in his lecturing. Gavin couldn’t find it in himself to be scared, or even particularly cowed, during the whole event, though as soon as they got home, he scooped up Rosie and emailed the contract to Matt to look into before retreating to his room. He was coaxed down with the promise of Alfredo cooking dinner and a blanket fort, sandwiched on both sides as they rewatched Bond movies, even if Alfredo started to fall asleep halfway through and Jeremy was struggling not to nod off, they stayed awake until Gavin dozed off.    
  
There was another attempt where his food delivery had been poisoned, which hadn’t been fun to deal with, though thankfully it had been more akin to bad food poisoning. Jeremy fretted over him the entire time and Alfredo had disappeared and came back, white knuckling his jacket and blood under his nails, but he curled up with Gavin and Rosie when Gavin quietly asked for a hug. His internal organs had spent the last two days Alfredo had been gone revolting against the very idea of food, and barely tolerated vitamin water and regular water. Jeremy had been a good source of comfort, though Alfredo laying beside him helped soothe something in Gavin that had been sharp and empty at the same time. It didn’t take Gavin long to realize that he wasn’t just interested in Alfredo and Jeremy but crushing on them both; his old feelings for Alfredo jolting back to the forefront of his mind and his already years long yearning crush on Jeremy yet to be voiced. It made for a heady, complicated mess in his stomach, made worse with his anxiety about ruining the one piece of normality that he’d scrounged for himself and by the way that Alfredo and Jeremy shared long, lingering looks towards each other.    
  
Gavin knew it wasn’t healthy, but he stuffed down all the messy, complicated little shits that he called emotions and locked them away in a box. It didn’t matter that the lock was rusted and chipping at the edges and that portions of the chains had broken and been tied back together again. He shoved that too heavy box into the corner of his mind, resolute. He’d already nearly spilled his emotions everywhere once and scrambled to pick them up before they cost him his best friend -- now that he had both Alfredo and Jeremy in his life, Gavin refused to lose them.    
  
It made him a little distant, holing up in his office for hours, editing the same thing over and over, and when that got boring, digging through his copious notes on the attempts on his life, curling up in his office in a chair that would surely hasten him to a hunched back in his fifties, but he didn’t care. Alfredo and Jeremy gave him his space, though they poked their heads in with gentle reminders about food and water, and to stand and walk around. When those failed, they left him plates and bowls of food, and a water bottles, Gavin putting the dishes in the sink and washing them when he was certain the other two were busy.    
  
Finally, Alfredo seemed to not be able to take any more of it and cornered him in the kitchen, bracketing him against the corner section of the counter and staring down at him, distinctly unimpressed.    
  
“I’ve had it up to here, Free, with your fucking antics,” Alfredo started slowly, not buding an inch. “We’ve given you space. We’ve tried to talk to you. We’ve tried to figure out what’s bothering you. But you’ve gone full reclusive billionaire on us and that shit’s not healthy. So, are you done being a child?”    
  
Gavin barely heard him over how loud his heart was beating, pressed practically nose to nose with Alfredo as Jeremy came in and leaned around the other side, holding Rosie. Jeremy looked an odd combination of pissed off and concerned, his face pinched up like he weren’t certain which emotion was expressed and went for both to even it out.    
  
“Seriously, Gav, what the fuck,” Jeremy said.    
  
“I...I’ve been trying to figure some shit out,” Gavin managed before pushing Alfredo away from him, scowling up at him. “Also, you don’t need to fucking corner me. I’m not some main character in a shit manga.”    
  
That got Alfredo to pause and then laugh, stepping away. Gavin felt a smile of his own coming to his face, though it was a thin wisp of a thing, it was a smile.    
  
“What’ve you been doing, Gav?” Jeremy asked as Alfredo got himself under control.    
  
“Researching, like I said,” he started.    
  
“That’s bullshit,” Jeremy said immediately, cutting him off. “I’ve seen you go into research dives, and this is nothing like that.” he passed Gavin Rosie and he immediately felt himself lighten up as he held the purring ball of fur and fluff. “You’ve been avoiding things,” Jeremy continued. “You’re not coming out of your office unless Alfredo and I aren’t around, and not even Matt’s able to get you out. We’ve resorted to going through Fiona to see if you’re even sleeping. Just, talk to us Gavin,” the heat in Jeremy’s voice slowly began to fade to something soft. Still annoyed, but softer and leaning more into concern.    
  
Gavin buried his face in Rosie’s side with a long exhale, snorting and shaking his head as he got cat hair in his mouth. He heard Jeremy chuckle and Alfredo start to laugh all over again and a little more of his tension melted away, his heart warming. Gavin hadn’t realized how much he’d missed the pair of them in his period of self isolation and sucked up some of his resolve.    
  
“...I was hiding,” he admitted. “From you two.”    
  
“Wait, why? Did we do something?” Alfredo asked, a truly kicked puppy look on his face, shattering the illusion of him being a terrifying fighting machine.    
  
“No, it wasn’t you, not entirely,” Gavin lied, a part of himself hating how easy it was to say those words. “Just, everything has been so much, and I don’t… I don’t wanna be hovered over. I know how to handle myself, and yes, the protection is appreciated, but the whole, freaking out everytime something happens doesn’t help. I know you’re worried and that it’s scary, but I’ve been dealing with this shit  _ since I was eight. _ I don’t like to be treated as though I’m incompetant. I’ve maimed and even killed people that were coming after me, and I took no pleasure in it. The cops ruled it as self defense.” he wrapped his arms tighter around Rosie, who started purring louder in his ear.    
  
Jeremy sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Gav, I’m sorry if I made you feel as though I was hovering obnoxiously or trying to smother you. That’s the last thing I want to do. But, hiding away in your office for most of the day, sinking your life into your notes,”    
  
“You kept those?” Alfredo interrupted, his eyebrows flying upwards.    
  
Gavin nodded. “Been updating them too.”   
  
Jeremy looked between them and then pointed. “You’re going to explain that later. Either one of you. I don’t care who, but one of you.” he took another deep breath. “You were in that office for almost two weeks, Gav. It’s been three months since,” he waved around the kitchen.    
  
Gavin flinched slightly and shuffled his feet, the cool wood freezing to his bare feet. Alfredo’s mild shock faded into something closer to neutrality, but Gavin knew him too well. He was pissed off and worried, though Gavin wasn’t sure entirely which emotion reigned supreme.    
  
“I know,” he said, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling and gather himself. “But,” he looked back at the pair. “You two were driving me up the damn wall.”    
  
“How about we take you out tomorrow?” Alfredo suggested suddenly, making Gavin jump even as Jeremy nodded. “We could go out towards the fashion and tech district in the main city, where all the shinies are. You can get some new equipment,”    
  
“There’s a really nice Italian restaurant that popped up too,” Jeremy added. “They’re reasonably priced and the foods delicious. Their gelato looks amazing, too.”    
  
Gavin felt himself smile and his heart kick up once more as he nodded. “Yeah, okay. That sounds like a plan. Make a day of it.”    
  
“Have you three made up or should I go back upstairs?” Matt’s voice shattered the illusion of being alone.    
  
Gavin wasn’t sure if he was grateful or upset and settled on grateful. “We’re good, Matt.” he said, stepping around Alfredo and Jeremy as Matt walked further into the room, holding a binder under his arm and his computer on his arm.    
  
“Good, cause I was about to kick the three of you out to your office to settle your shit,” he said, sitting at the counter and opening the biner. “The adults are working,”    
  
“Oi!” Gavin shrieked.    
  
“I resent that remark,” Alfredo snapped as Jeremy glared at his best friend.    
  
Matt gave them all a look out of the side of his eye, eyebrow raised and lips quirked in a faint uptick -- something like a smirk and a disbelieving smile. 

“Okay, what’ve you been working on?” Alfredo asked first.    
  
“Will shit and finances,” Matt said, turning back to his binder, which seemed to be color coordinated with little highlighted tabs. Gavin recognized it instantly as one of Meg’s doing. “Meg and Lindsay have been helping me out. Things just aren’t adding up  _ somewhere  _ and I don’t know where. Fiona’s been driven to a rage, according to Michael-”    
  
“ _ Michael’s here?!” _ Gavin demanded, his excitement making his voice higher.    
  
“Jesus, not so loud. No, not here. He’s with Lindsay and Fiona in Washington State,” Matt said, not looking away from his screen. “Michael said he’d be coming down soon though. He says hi, by the way and that he’s sorry he’s not been around the last year; new job prospect had him jumping through hoops.” 

Gavin nodded and let out a long breath. “We haven’t called to talk to each other in months, so that explains why, at least.” he was a little grateful; his Boi would send him through the ringer if he knew that Gavin had holed himself up in his office for almost three weeks.    
  
Michael would also have yanked Gavin out of his office by the second day and demanded he talk and explain himself. He was suddenly immensely happy that his oldest friend wasn’t there and didn’t know how stupid he was being. He mentally shook himself out and went over to Matt, looking over the detailed ledgers and bank statements that had his parents names on them. He looked at the other man, but Matt was absorbed in some oddly complicated looking graph that at first glance looked simple.    
  
“What is all that?” Gavin asked as Alfredo and Jeremy came over.    
  
“Financial graph,” Alfredo said immediately. “It’s a tool used to track your finances, how well certain stocks are doing and if they’re held with a third party, how well those are doing, etc.”    
  
“Since when did you know about finances?” Jeremy asked, eyebrows rising.    
  
“Uh… I’m nearly thirty-three now?” Alfredo rubbed his chin. “Dunno. Just picked it up. Seemed useful to know.” 

Jeremy pushed him slightly, rolling his eyes, but there was a fond little smile on his face that made Alfredo smile back, and then they turned both those smiles to Gavin, who fought to keep back a blush. He saw Matt roll his eyes at them and shake his head but didn’t say anything. Gavin didn’t know if he were grateful or ready to bury his head in the sand.    
  
“Right, anyways. None of your parents' things make sense,” Matt continued like nothing had happened. “This will of “Harlord and Dina McCantire”,” he put on a snooty voice, making Gavin chuckle. “Is written with you as the sole heir by direct blood. However, there’s this second cousin bullshit that’s driving me up the wall. It says, basically, in the event something happens to  _ you  _ then they inherit everything.” 

“I...Huh.” Gavin rubbed his temples. “Okay.” 

“Yeah. That’s not all. Alfredo is running through some things right now, so we don’t have anything concrete, but,”    
  
“You think that the second cousin is sending people after Gav?” Jeremy guessed.    
  
Matt nodded and Alfredo groaned, rubbing his face.    
  
“I’m too old for this bullshit,” he grumbled. “I signed up to be Gavin’s bodyguard, not get thrust into some weird Sherlock Holmes meets Downtown Abby meets Midsomer Murders. Gavin, you’ve only had the money for three months, how are you  _ already  _ pulling off eccentric rich person bullshit?”    
  
“Oh, fuck you,” 

Jeremy and Alfredo laughed, shaking their heads as Gavin just flipped them both off. Matt rolled his eyes and shook his head, ignoring them as he plugged in his headphones cand started working. Alfredo gave Gavin a look after a moment that made his heart do somersaults and his stomach tie itself into knots, staring at Alfredo with a faint grin that trembled at the edges. He was suddenly reminded of six years ago, dumber but more reckless and laughing in the wind as Alfredo yelled at him through the motorcycle helmet. Of later that same day, Alfredo carefully wrapping up a slight sprain in his wrist as Gavin stared off into space, unwilling to look him right in the eyes as the other man gently scolded him, complaining that he was too old for such things now and that Gavin had to be careful. The same feeling as then rushed back, suckerpunching him in the chest and leaving him breathless.    
  
The not so tightly locked box shuffled closer to the forefront of his mind, the messy little things called feelings battering away. Gavin gave a sure smile in return as internally he wrestled with the box and shoved it back down to the hole it belonged in. He was more than capable of handling it.    


Both Alfredo and Jeremy refused to let him be alone the rest of the day and coaxed him into playing Halo with them, and then mario kart, which only happened because Matt declined, insisting that he continue to work and keep trying to sort out what was going on. Gavin found himself relaxing more and more as the day went on, laughing and pushing Jeremy and Alfredo’s buttons as they pushed his in turn but it all culminated to more laughter. At one point, Gavin started to laugh so hard he began to cry, falling into Alfredo as the other man wrapped an arm around him, his chest rumbling with his laughter, high pitched and amused as Jeremy squeaked and wheezed against Gavin’s other side. They ate lunch and watched some movies, making fun of them as they went. Dinner was made by Alfredo that night, and Gavin felt like his heart would leap out of his chest when Jeremy smiled at Alfredo and then at him, the soft, sweet expression not changing.    
  
A tentative hope bloomed in Gavin’s chest, though he wasn’t in the business of hoping. He never had been; hope put expectations too high usually, and led to broken hearts and lonely apartments. It took all of Gavin’s willpower to not curl up with Jeremy or stretch himself out over Alfredo like he used too. There was nothing. He still smiled and laughed, but kept himself contained. It was easier to do that than linger and hope. Jeremy and Alfredo noticed but thankfully didn’t push and Gavin finally made his excuses to go to sleep that night, grabbing Rosie from her lazy perch on her cat playground, and headed up to bed. He curled up in his bed and tried to ignore how much he missed the weight of having someone pressed against his front, or against his back.    


Morning came as it always did; abruptly and ruining Gavin’s sleep in the form of a very heavy ginger cat sitting on his chest and grooming his short beard and making it hard to breathe. He groaned, pulling Rosie off his chest in the same move he used to sit up, looking down at her in mild annoyance.    
  
“You’re a little hellion,” he grumbled at her, glaring down at her before it melted and he sighed, scratching her ears and petting down her back.    
  
Gavin forced himself to get out of bed and just stared around at his room, not really absorbing any of it. It was exhausting just to stand there, the lack of real sleep he’d been getting piling up on him and pushing him down. Rosie purred loudly in his arms, shifting and he absently shifted, letting her climb up to his shoulders and balance there before she draped herself around his shoulders like a scarf and rubbed her face against his cheek. Gavin took a deep breath and shook his head.    
  
“Really, Free. What were you expecting? Stop doing this to yourself.” he grumbled before pulling Rosie off his shoulders and went into his closet, getting together clothes that were more suited to a date than a casual hang out with his best friend and whatever Alfredo had become.    
  
His favorite jeans and rainbow soled converse, and then a dark purple silk shirt, one of the only fancy shirts he actually owned, and a dark blue coat. Gavin looked himself over critically in the mirror, leaning in and checked himself out every which way to try and make little adjustments here and there to his hair or how his shirt fell, tucking and untucking it repeatedly. Finally, Gavin gave up and ran his hands through his hair aggressively, scrubbing his hands back and forth. He grabbed his phone and took a few pictures before sending the best one to Michael.    
  
**Me:** **_Boi, help. Im trying to decide if I look like an idiot or not._ **

**Boi:** **_Well, you always look like an idiot so toss that one out._ **

**Boi:** **_But seriously you look fine you moron. Whats the occasion? Finally tell Lil J and Fredo how you feel?_ **

**Me:** **_How-!? Absolutely not!_ **

**Boi:** **_You’ve known Lil J since sophomore year college and you got all fuckin mooney when he fuckd off for three years to the army. Then you were getting over him with Fredo and that whole fiasco where you danced around it until he left and you packed up and moved. And then, lo and behold, Lil J comes back and you live with the guy for four more years and still haven’t done shit? You’re the most oblivious, obvious man in the world, Free._ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** **Me:** **_… You don’t have to be an asshole about it._ **

**Boi:** **_No, I do cause otherwise you’re going to turtle away and refuse to talk to them like an adult. Look, Gav, you’re my Boi and I care about you, but for the love of Christ, talk to them. You’re terrible at this shit._ **

**Me:** **_Fuck you. I will._ **

Gavin paused, staring at his phone in shock. He could almost feel Michael’s smug smile radiating through the phone. Despite himself, Gavin felt himself smile a little, shaking his head.    


**Boi:** **_Glad to hear it, finally. Go get ‘em Gavvy! Dont text or call me until you’ve done it._ **

**Me:** **_Sod off, you mingey prick_ **

Gavin stuffed his phone back in his pocket and grumbled half heartedly to himself, mostly nonsense as he made his way downstairs, Rosie a few steps ahead of him, already hunting down her breakfast. Gavin paused in the doorway to the kitchen, feeling his heart stutter; Jeremy was wearing a deep purple leather jacket and a pair of jeans and one of his nicer dark grey shirts while Alfredo wore a brown aviator jacket, a dark red shirt and a pair of jeans that showed off his ass. Neither man was directly looking at him, engaged in an argument about cereal marshmallows.   
  
“Look, all I’m saying is, they could stand to make lucky charms itself taste better! Slap some honey on those bland wheat bastards and add some not dehydrated marshmallow.” Jeremy was saying from his spot at the kitchen table.   
  
Alfredo was at the cabinet, reaching up and pulling down a thing of poptarts that Gavin didn’t know they even had. The sharpie writing _Red Dot’s Property --_ _Do not EAT_ on it meant little to him, he knew that Alfred had likely put it up so high so not to have deal with him or Matt pilfering. Gavin ogled Alfredo and then Jeremy in the moment he had before they realized he was there.   
  
“And I’m saying,” Alfredo grunted as he pulled out a silver packet and then put the box back up, “That it’d be _too much_ sugar. There’s only so far a dumpster fire like my diet can go, Jeremy. The Dr. Pepper will be the end of me, I’d prefer to not add a sugar coma from a quote unquote breakfast food to that list.”   
  
“But Fredo! Think of it! They’d be _delicious_ ,”   
  
“If you wanna try it so bad, why don’t you order a bag of lucky charms marshmallows and pour them over a bowl of honey nut cheerios?” Alfredo asked, ripping the packet open and dropping his poptarts in the toaster. “I mean, seriously. It wouldn’t be that hard. Hell, you could easily rope Gav into that kind of thing if you pose it as a million dollar question.”   
  
“That sounds properly disgusting,” Gavin said, making Alfredo and Jeremy startle and then spin around to stare at him, relaxing in the next moment.

“Hey Gav,” Jeremy started, grinning.    
  
“Absolutely not, Jeremy Dooley,” Gavin said with a snort. “I refuse.”    
  
“You don’t wanna get gelato after lunch?” Jeremy asked innocently.    
  
“Oh, that, yes. The gelato I will say yes too. But not that honey nut cheerio with lucky charms mellow bull. God, that just sounds disgusting,”    
  
Gavin went to the cabinet to grab his own breakfast and accepted the milk from Alfredo as he opened the fridge. Alfredo took out the wet cat food and picked up Rosie’s food and water dish, pouring a little dry food and mixing in the wet. Gavin fixed his breakfast of Cheerios and put the milk back as Alfredo scratched Rosie’s head as she ate. Jeremy got up as the toaster popped up and grabbed Alfredo’s poptarts, putting them on a plate for him and then put his dishes in the dishwasher   
  
“So, we have a loose idea for the day,” Jeremy started. “We’re planning on taking you out on the town up into Burton cause I know you wanna go digging through the new shinies, and then we go grab gelato and lunch.”    
  
“And after that,” Alfredo picked up, straightening and taking a poptart. “We’re headed towards the Textile city cause they have the best consignment shops and thrifting is the best way to spend an afternoon. You can buy the fancy shit, but you can’t find the weird shit.”    
  
Gavin snorted into his cheerios, shaking his head and laughing, trying not to choke on his food as he felt his heart bloom in warmth. It may just be a good idea to talk to them later. His phone felt heavy in his pocket and Gavin swirled his spoon through his milk and cereal for a moment, listening to the gentle  _ chskchskchsk  _ of the metal on the ceramic, the little bump from the time he’d had to put the bowl back together and it was still missing a piece.    
  
“Hey,” he said, looking up as he summoned all his nerves. “After we go out, can we talk tonight?”    
  
“Yeah, of course,” Jeremy said, nodding.    
  
Alfredo hummed around his second poptart, nodding. “Course,” he said, swallowing. “We were hoping to talk to you too,”    
  
“Cool, then we can do that tonight,” Gavin said, his tone final.    
  
Alfredo and Jeremy shared a look but nodded in agreement. It wasn’t too long after that that Matt came shambling downstairs, bags under his eyes. He started to make coffee for himself and Alfredo raised an eyebrow before he handed the man an apple, which Matt took without even looking at it.    
  
“Hey, Matt,” Jeremy said slowly. “We’re going out. Why don’t you get some sleep, buddy?”    
  
“Can’t sleep,” Matt grunted. “Got work. Coffee first. Then food. Then water and work. Shower and sleep later.” 

Jeremy just put his hands up and nodded, giving Alfredo and Gavin quick looks. Gavin nodded, drinking down the rest of his milk and putting the bowl in the dishwasher as Alfredo stepped around the exhausted techie, pulling his car keys out of his pocket.    
  
“Be out in the car,” he said.    
  
Jeremy nodded and Gavin slipped down the hall to the front door, Alfredo steps behind him. 

“Did you ever find out who that woman was? From the first night we spent here?” Gavin asked as they walked to Alfredo’s black lexus.    
  
“Yeah, actually.” Alfredo opened the back door for Gavin to get in. “Her name was Ginny, like the Harry Potter girl. Assassin, good at accents, one of the people I stopped from killing you in the past.” his voice was neutral and Gavin nodded, looking at his own reflection in the rearview mirror.    
  
“That explains why she was so familiar.” his lips twitched. “I hit her in the head with a frying pan. I was trying to find one of the knives I had stored in the cabinets. It was the wrong one.”    
  
Alfredo laughed, the sound soft and a little wistful. “You took that seriously.”    
  
“Of course,” Gavin said with a shrug. “You weren’t always going to be there and I needed to protect myself.”    
  
He saw Alfredo flinch a little and a part of him was viciously pleased. The rest of him felt bad. However, before he could say anything, Alfredo said, soft,    
  
“I’m sorry I left. I didn’t really want to, but I had to. I wish I could’ve told you more than I did.”    
  
Gavin let out a long, rattling sigh and rubbed his face. “It’s a little late,” he started, then pulled his hands away. “But I’m glad for an apology.”    
  
Alfredo gave a small, tentative smile and ran a hand through his hair. It was so short now, Gavin observed idly. He wondered if it was just as soft as before and if Alfredo still liked it when he played with the ends of it.    
  
“I don’t plan on going anywhere this time,” he promised and Gavin smiled faintly.    
  
“Good. I don’t think I’d let you go without a fight.”    
  
Alfredo gave a warmer smile and giggled. “Of that I have no doubt.”    
  
He looked over his shoulder and hummed, shutting Gavin’s door and got in the drivers seat, and turned on the car as Jeremy came jogging out.    
  
“Sorry,” he said as he opened the back seat and sat next to Gavin. “I had to wrangle Matt to not drink an energy drink with his coffee and to eat something more than an apple. He’ll probably pass out on the couch, so we should stay out later and text him that we’ll pick up dinner.”    
  
“Ohh, that’s a good idea,” Gavin said, grinning. “We can grab some pizza from Sammy’s on the way home.”    
  
“Oh, fuck yes. Sam’s got the  _ best  _ pizza.” Jeremy groaned, tilting his head back as he buckled himself in.    
  
Alfredo just chuckled and pulled out of the drive and Gavin watched the house become smaller. It felt good, to leave however temporary. They wound up playing the alphabet game as traffic picked up, which Gavin delighted in. It was well into mid morning when they finally found a parking garage and paid, then made their way into the streets. Gavin pulled them into his favorite camera store and quickly snapped up a polaroid camera and film, practically squealing in delight. While they were window shopping after, Jeremy stared at an art store, sighing wistfully, only to stare in surprise as Gavin hauled him across the street and helped him pick out a new sketchbook and markers, and then to a game store to pick up his own surprise for the pair -- switch’s for Jeremy and Alfredo, and a game for himself.    
  
“Jesus,” Jeremy said, looking at all the bags they had, even consolidated to three bags large. “We bought so much stuff,”    
  
“Worth it!” Gavin said with a grin. “It’s my money now and I wanna spend it on people I care about.”    
  
“Aww, thanks Gavvy,” Alfredo said, slinging an arm around his shoulder.    
  
Gavin rolled his eyes and elbowed Alfredo, ducking out from under his arm. “You two are buying me lunch,” he said with a firm smile on his face.    


Jeremy looked like he was about to say something when his eyes widened and he was tackling Gavin to the ground as Alfredo dove after them.    
  
“Archer!!” Jeremy yelled, his weight driving the air out of Gavin’s lungs.    
  
Gavin didn’t even have time to breathe before there was sharp then numb pain and someone hitting the ground, screaming. Jeremy was hauling him up and moving, bitten out instructions coming from Alfredo,    
  
“Up, full beans to the right. Go, go, go!”    
  
Gavin looked down in shock, realizing he was the one who’d been screaming, an arrow sticking out of his thigh and Jeremy was carrying him bridal style. There was a jolt and his vision went black for a minute. When he came too, he realized he was sitting down, slouched painfully against a door, his thigh in Jeremy’s lap as he pressed hard against the wound. Something glinted on the ground and it took him a moment to realize that it was the arrow. It wasn’t entirely in his leg anymore, just the shaft of it. His eyes darted around wildly, and he felt himself relax a touch as he spotted Alfredo at the mouth of the odd alcove, taking stock of the scene.   
  
“You know, all the times I thought about you and me in this position, it wasn’t nearly this dire,” Gavin said, feeling adrenaline pump through his veins like fire. 

Jeremy snorted, not looking up as he rooted through his pockets with one hand, the other pressing down as hard as he could on the wound. Gavin winced, hissing in pain, the adrenaline and edges of numbness to his brain making it hard to feel the full brunt of what was likely a horrific, mind numbing pain. Finally, Jeremy came out with two rolls of ace bandages and Gavin squeaked a laugh, managing,    
  
“You just had those-?”    
  
“Well, when you’re a spy, then a merc, and then on your own, it pays to always be prepared for a sprained ankle,” Jeremy said, giving Gavin a tight smile. “Just hold on, okay? We’re gonna be okay.” 

Alfredo grumbled, pulling out a knife as he peered around the corner.   
  
“Fucking-- I’m too old for this Hawkeye bullshit,” he grumbled and Gavin wheezed a laugh.   
  
“You saying you don’t actually want to fight Hawkeye?” Jeremy tossed back, his hands shaking as they pressed harder against Gavin’s thigh. “I think that’d be fun,” 

“J, I brought a knife to a bow and arrow fight,” Alfredo said dryly, though Gavin could hear the tremble in his voice. “Instead of a gun, because for some reason I decided to  _ not be sensible, _ ”   
  
“And here I thought you said you were always prepared,” Gavin said with a strained smile, grunting as Jeremy pulled the bandages tight.    
  
“Je-Jesus, Lil J, take a guy out...out to eat first before you get rough,” he joked, ignoring the sick sinking in his stomach.    
  
“Yeah well,” Alfredo said from the mouth of the alley before he dropped with a  _ crk  _ to the cement, hissing in pain. “Fuck, my knees aren’t made for this shit anymore, going the same way as my wrists at this rate,” he grunted before doing something that Gavin missed and Jeremy was pressing down hard again, his hands slipping from the blood and making him cry in pain, Jeremy apologizing rapidly under his breath. “That’s what today was  _ supposed  _ to be,”    
  
“Wait, what-?” Gavin started, feeling a little woozy from seeing so much of his own blood cake up his leg. 

‘ _ Didn’t think I’d be squeamish about the blood thing, _ ’ he thought, almost idly.    
  
“Yeah,” Jeremy confirmed. “We were gonna do it all fancy and nice, talk to you about it and ask if you were interested in dating both of us,” 

“Or one of us,” Alfredo added, shuffling along in his half crouch along the wall. “But you know, being an actual adult about this kind’ve thing and talking it out. Fuck,  _ where are they _ ?!” 

Gavin was about to ask who Alfredo was talking about when the door behind him was wrenched open and he made a surprised noise of seeing a familiar ginger before his head slammed into the ground and black overtook his vision. 

He roused intermittently; once to people shouting at each other as he was carried, his head a little lower on someone’s arm than was actually comfortable and a hand pressing hard just above a cold spot on his leg. He whined and the shouting stopped as he slipped back under. There was a bit of a prick in his elbow that made him flinch, but someone was holding his hands, which was nice. He squeezed best he could to show he was alright, before he was out again, this time dragged down by the floaty warmth that made his tongue feel like cotton. When Gavin started to float back up to the surface, he could hear people talking, despite their softer voices, he couldn’t bring himself to fall back asleep and he didn’t have the ability to give enough fucks to open his eyes. Instead, he just let himself drift, half paying attention and slowly rousing.    
  
“...Been almost five years since I saw him,” Alfredo. He sounded tired. “I never thought I would, you know? But then all of this and just…”    
  
“Yeah well,” Michael. He sounded annoyed, and Gavin wasn’t sure who the target was. “You’re all idiots. Thought you said you didn’t want to fuck this up.”    
  
“...I don’t think I have. Have I?” Alfredo sounded so insecure and worried that Gavin wanted to claw his way out of his haze and squeeze his hand and hold him again. “I know being forgiven doesn’t mean things go back, and I know that he owes me literally nothing for me having walked out of his life like that.. I just… Gods, I didn’t want him to get hurt.”    
  
“Well, the way he told it, you were less a melodramatic brooding asshole and more a rational adult,” Michael said, sounding exasperated. “God, I know you’re a theater major and all that, Fredo, but save the melodramatics for later. Look, Gav was hurt, yeah, but you didn’t just Tuxedo Mask him.” 

“Since when do you quote Sailor Moon?”    
  
“Since today.” Michael sounded a little amused. “But my point stands. You didn’t just waltz out of his life. You and him had a conversation, like adults, about how you had to go back to work and that he’d be safe.”    
  
“Yeah,” Alfredo sighed. “Still felt awful.”    
  
“Well, good to know you’re human.”    
  
There was the sound of a door opening and quiet footsteps, then the bed sinking by his legs.    
  
“Any changes?” Jeremy. He sounded ragged.    
  
“Not yet.” Michael sighed, getting up and heading to the door. “I’m going to check on Fifi and Matt.” 

“Okay,” Jeremy muttered quietly, and there was some shifting before a weight settled on Gavin’s chest. “Rosie, Rosie no,”    
  
“Rosie, y’ure heavy,” Gavin mumbled, finally able to open his eyes, though it felt like sandbags were attached, his head didn’t feel nearly as cloudy as it did the last time he woke up.    
  
“Gav-!” Alfredo and Jeremy exclaimed almost in unison, making him smile as he lifted a hand to try and pet Rosie.    


“You are  _ never  _ allowed to do that again, do you hear me!” Jeremy said, making Gavin look at him.    
  
“Seriously, fucking  _ never. _ ” Alfredo added, scrubbing his face. “Good fuckin god, I thought you were dead for a minute there.”    
  
“What happened?” Gavin asked, his voice rasping and he winced.    
  
Alfredo got up and helped him sit up properly, Jeremy taking Rosie from his chest, much to her protest, before setting her back down on his legs. Once he was settled, Alfredo got a water bottle with a straw in it and held it up to Gavin’s lips. He took a few small, grateful sips, tamping down on the urge to guzzle it down. When he had his fill, he pulled away and Alfredo set it back down as Gavin look around. It wasn’t like any hospital room he’d ever been in. There were large beautiful windows that overlooked the city, and there was a thick carpet that looked like it belonged in some kind of manor home. There was a bookshelf and a desk with a computer, and a bathroom attached from the cracked open door, and a large walk in closet.    
  
“Where are we?” he added, lifting a hand to properly pet Rosie.    
  
“With our friends, Geoff and Jack,” Jeremy explained, letting out a breath. “When we were mercs, we bumped into them and ran a few jobs with them, and then I left the scene as they were getting a name. I wanted a normal as I could get life.” 

Gavin looked at Alfredo, raising an eyebrow in a silent question.    
  
“...Vagabond was born in that time,” Alfredo said, settling back in his chair, and Gavin didn’t recognize it as one of his own. “And disappeared when I was your bodyguard. I was done with being a spy and dealing with red tape bullshit, and being a lone wolf didn’t do me favors, so I laid low and became a bodyguard. Then, when I left, I threw myself into it. Half of it is theatrics and letting people fill in rumors, and the rest of it is pretty damn real, which is why I worked on and off with Geoff and Jack for as long as I did. Michael, Lindsay and Fiona are all part of the Fakes, before you ask. Though Fiona’s the newest person, and J left, and I was on and off.”    
  
“So, your friends you wanted to call,” Gavin put together slowly. “They were a gang.”    
  
“Well, no better protection than the biggest honchos in all of Los Santos.” Jeremy said with a faint smile and it grew as Gavin gave a soft laugh. 

“You know, that’s a fair point.” Gavin said. He looked at the heavy blankets on his legs and flexed his toes, then looked back at the pair. “So, what happened?”    
  
“You didn’t pass out so much from blood loss though you did lose a liter of blood. You slammed your head on the ground when Michael opened the door and got a mild concussion, and Lindsay had a hell of a time patching you up to make sure your femoral artery hadn’t been torn and she’ll likely be by with the exercises that you’ll need to do to get your leg back to full strength, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could be thanks to Jeremy breaking off the ends and then binding it to stabilize it. But you’re all patched up now and were on some real good drugs when you first woke up.” Alfredo explained and Gavin frowned.    
  
“I only remember waking up a few times before this.”    
  
“Well, the first time was right after Lindsay cleaned you up,” Alfredo said, looking mischievous. “And you kept whining about how your date with “the two golden gods of your dreams was ruined,” and such like.”    
  
“I  _ did not- _ ” Gavin started, indignant before the hazy memory cropped up and he went beet red. “Oh god, let me die of embarrassment. Please. How many people heard that?”    
  
“Just me and Fredo,” Jeremy assured. “But, we were also serious, Gav, before everything went to hell. We really do want to date you.”    
  
Gavin felt his eyes widen and his heart stand still for a moment, staring at them in shock. “You’re not having a laugh? You’re serious?”    
  
“Why the hell would we lie?” Alfredo asked, though his voice was gentle. “Gav, we like you  _ like you,  _ okay? We like  _ like  _ each other too, and we were terrified that this would be the end before it even started.”    
  
Gavin blinked rapidly, trying to clear the shock and budding tears from the corners of his eyes.    
  
“Gav, oh god, wait, please don’t cry,” Jeremy started, panicked and Alfredo made a noise in the back of his throat, worried and Gavin shook his head.    
  
“No, they’re good tears, just...Just get up here,” Gavin scrubbed his eyes with shaking hands. “Come here and hug me.” 

Alfredo and Jeremy needed no further encouragement and after a moment of figuring out how they fit on the bed together, Gavin was pressed between the both of them, Alfredo’s arm tucked behind his shoulders and his hand rested on Jeremy’s nape, thumb rubbing small circles there. Jeremy’s arm reached behind Gavin’s lower back and his hand curled up in Alfredo’s shirt, flexing there, both of their arms wrapped around Gavin’s middle as they hugged him and he held onto them as best he could, shaking from the sheer relief.    
  
“What does this make us?” Jeremy asked softly after a few minutes had passed. “Partners? Boyfriends? Something in between?”    
  
“I like boyfriend,” Gavin said with a smile. “I really like boyfriends.” 

“I’m good with that,” Alfredo said with a smile. He chewed on his lip before he asked, “Can I kiss you?”    
  
Gavin felt his heart about stop before he nodded and turned his head a little to press a chaste kiss to Alfredo’s mouth, humming softly. It was a sweet, chaste thing, neither one of them going further, just lingering, before they pulled apart. Alfredo looked over at Jeremy and huffed, smiling as he rolled his eyes and leaned around Gavin, murmuring,    
  
“Yes, you can have a kiss too,”    
  
“I was about to ask,” Jeremy defended, though Gavin could hear a smile in his voice.    
  
Watching the pair of them kiss made his heart kick up and he made a soft whine when they pulled away. Jeremy turned and looked at him, the tips of his ears faintly red.    
  
“Come here and kiss me?” Gavin asked. “I’m injured, I can’t move,”    
  
Jeremy huffed in amusement as Alfredo groaned, flopping back against the pillows. “You’re going to be insufferable,” 

“Most assuredly,” Gavin said with a laugh before he leaned in and kissed Jeremy.    
  
It was just as chaste, but warmer, and a different kind of prickling from Jeremy’s slightly longer beard. Alfredo squeezed his hand and huffed beside them, quiet and content as they lingered and then pulled away. Gavin settled back into the pillows, Rosie’s purring, the tingling of his lips and how full his heart was about enough to rock him back to sleep. He knew he should talk to Michael, meet everyone else, but he was content. The door opening suddenly shattered that perfect lull and he jolted out of reflex of the gentle opening and then a large smile burst across his face.    
  
“Fifi!” he cried.    
  
Fiona stood in the doorway, dressed in jeans and a large hoodie, her short hair messy like she’d been running her hands through it. Her glasses slipped down her nose a little and her mouth opened slightly in shock before she was beaming.    
  
“Gav!” she exclaimed, running to the bed and stopping just short of the bed so she didn’t tackle him and in the process whack Alfredo in the chest or crush Rosie. “When’d you wake up? Why didn’t anyone say something? We’ve all been worried sick!” 

“I just woke up,” he admitted. “And started talking with Lil J and Fredo.”    
  
“Did you finally sort your shit out?’ she asked, raising an eyebrow as she sat in Alfredo’s vacated chair. When he nodded, blushing, she beamed. “Aww, good! I’m so happy for you!”    
  
Gavin blushed and shook his head to clear it. “Wait, why’re you here?” 

“Well, other than wanting to check in on you and get an update from whoever was here, I was hoping you’d be awake. I’ve got news. You ready to hear it?”    
  
Gavin took a breath and nodded, moving his hand from Jeremy’s to start petting Rosie, the repetitive motion soothing.    
  
“Well, while you were out, Matt and I really sank our teeth into everything and made headway.” Fiona said, looking pleased with herself before she turned serious. “Your parents weren’t dead, they had faked their death like something from a terrible Hollywood movie and had that second cousin clause added in so  _ they  _ would inherit and then funnel it them tax free in the name of a charity for your “tragic” family death. Charities are tax free, and tax deductible, so other than a yearly gala or some shit, there would be too much paperwork and no one but the IRS wants to go through that, but pay off the right people and suddenly no one cares.” Fiona shrugged and rubbed her face a little like she were tired and Gavin could see the bags under her eyes.    
  
“How...Did you find all this out?” Jeremy asked, raising his eyebrows.    
  
Fiona gave him a vicious smirk, fire dancing in her eyes despite the exhaustion. “Ginny and I had a  _ lovely  _ conversation a day or so ago, shortly after she was released from custody. Personal merc hired by your piece of shit parents. She’s the one who set the bounty on your head.”    
  
“And what about my parents?” Gavin asked, his voice tight after so many revelations at once, his head reeling. “What’s going to happen to them and the inheritance?”    
  
“Well, according to the record, Gavin McCantire is dead, and so the bounty on your head is gone.” Alfredo said with a soft smile. “And Gavin Free has just inherited the whole estate. They never  _ named  _ the second cousin and a little bribery goes a long way.” 

“And, Alfredo and I are on the same page about loose ends, so a  _ tragic  _ accident has been planned for those assholes,” Jeremy said with a not so innocent smile. “Purely coincidence, of course, but they’ll be gone.”    
  
Gavin blinked and then felt himself begin to laugh, hysterical and a little relieved all at the same time. Free. He was finally free, in every sense of the word. Fiona looked a little worried, but Jeremy and Alfredo shook their heads, Jeremy pulling Gavin into a hug and he clung to the other man as he began to cry. All the stress, exhaustion and tension released all at once, leaving him shaking from all the weight of emotion that coursed through him, but there were two different pairs of arms around him and a warm cat in his lap.    
  
“Can we still get gelato?” Gavin mumbled into Jeremy’s shoulder. “After I can walk around again?”    
  
“It’s a date.” Alfredo said with a soft chuckle. “A  _ proper  _ one this time.” 

“We can even go to the movies,” Jeremy said, rubbing a hand gently up and down his side. “Just the three of us, make a day out of it. Movies, gelato, then Textile and get some weird consignment store treasures.”   
  
Gavin smiled and let out a happy noise. “I’d like that.” 

They would sort out the rest of their lives from that point; the offer to permanently join the rest of the crew, and their inevitable agreement, the hijinks that would ensue, and the levels of chaos that Geoff would swear would make him go grey would come later. The late night talks and soft laughter, the tears from near misses and fights and making up, the family that they’d culminate would come in a handful of months. But that moment, it was just perfect.


End file.
